From 'East End' to 'Coven,' TV witches edge out vampires

Like vampires, witches demonstrate remarkable powers. Yet they are specialists, often possessed of ancient, female-only secrets. And witches can be just as nasty as vamps, although with better teeth.

Two bubbling bursts of toil and trouble arrive this week -- one frothy, the other unnerving: A bodice-ripping drama inspired by the best-selling "Witches of East End" bows Oct. 6 on Lifetime, and the latest Ryan Murphy creepfest, "American Horror Story: Coven," unfolds Oct. 9 on FX.

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With very different styles, romantic versus crazy-scary, they aim to keep viewers spellbound.

Unlike some ironic modern interpretations, these are rather classic witches. Black cats, incantations and voodoo get an assist from the latest digital effects to elevate the magic.

The lighter Lifetime series is set in an idyllic small town in upstate New York and revolves around the eccentric, beautiful and not-hurting-for-money Beauchamp family, whose daughters don't realize they are immortal witches. Julia Ormond plays the matriarchal witch in the story based on Melissa de la Cruz's novel of the same title. Think "Charmed" meets "Revenge."

The heavier, freakier FX horror anthology this season was filmed on location in New Orleans, with a star-studded cast, including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett and Sarah Paulson. Expect a voodoo queen, historically based tales of New Orleans' slaves and free blacks, and, of course, witches. Lange sets the tone, seemingly flinging bodies across rooms with the wave of a hand. Witches must learn to fight, "or else we burn," she teaches underlings. Although the horror remains nerve-jangling, the fun quotient is higher this season, promises executive producer Tim Minear.

Witches are nothing new on the small screen, of course. From "Dark Shadows" to "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and, more recently, extending to "Grimm," the gifted female archetype has long haunted TV.

Whether it was Elizabeth Montgomery twitching her nose to magically clean house on "Bewitched," Alyson Hannigan training Sunnydale's teen-girl population to fight demons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or Fiona Shaw spouting Latin to create mayhem on "True Blood," the appeal of these supernaturally powerful women and girls goes deep.

Often working in teams of sisters or mother-daughter pairs, witches are shown to posses a secret female wisdom that eludes the less-aware Y-chromosome population. Samantha (Montgomery) and Endora (Agnes Moorehead) bewitched, baffled and bewildered the two Darrins for years.

Feminist theory holds that witches represent a certain lost goddess power and oneness with nature, suppressed by the patriarchy. These special women are the guardians of forgotten ancient knowledge, including herbal magic.

But you don't have to be politically engaged to have thrilled to Glenda or the Wicked Witch of the West in your first encounter with "The Wizard of Oz." It's enough to find witches wonderfully weird. Scary but enviable, sinister yet sexy.

Beyond TV, whether conquering the theater world with "Wicked" or on film with "The Witches of Eastwick," little wishes grow into life-changing transformations when these sorceresses get in touch with their inner powers.

Ranging in form from old hag to irresistible siren, with lizard-like tails in some "American Horror Story" cases, these sisters have secrets. They can work miracles in matters of fertility, place curses lasting generations, meddle in romance or shape-shift with the best of them.

Emerging out of cat form like Wendy (Madchen Amick) or sitting primly in a library like Ingrid Beauchamp (Rachel Boston), a young woman as yet unaware of her magical powers, the "Witches of East End" nod to TV and movie conventions of witchcraft.

Less conventional are the "Coven" ladies, who seem to practice voodoo without need of dolls, doing their piercings on life-size victims in midair.

Either way, they offer a trip into the imagination and the latest iterations of a TV-friendly archetype.

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